(And we're back!  Okay folks, this is the final part.)

continued....

Kelly said goodbye to me that Christmas with my eyes swollen and my heart overwhelmed. Flying back to Dallas was much harder than I anticipated. The only tears I remembered crying over any guys in the past was relative to pain.  This was the first time I had experienced the pain of love of saying goodbye. Fortunately though, Kelly and I had kept up the momentum and already had dates in hand for the next visit.

In March, Kelly was to spend his spring break in Dallas.  This trip was much more of an eye opener of what life might be like for us in "reality". For beginners, I worked a good portion of the week because frankly I knew we were going to need to save some of my vacation time for future visits. Kelly would drop me off at work in the morning and go do his thing. In the evenings we'd go walking, went to a movie or two, and of course go see the Dallas Stars play Calgary Flames.

In keeping up with the reality theme I decided to get sick. One night we were at my house watching TV and I just left him on the couch and went off to bed. About an hour later, Kelly came and checked on me and when I got up the dishes were clean, things put away and I was being taken care of. As miserable as I felt I couldn't stop thinking, "this guy is a keeper".

The week ended rather quickly and soon we were gearing up for the next visit. With each visit we were getting closer only to drive back from the airport and return to our state of  being alone.  I sometimes find having a relationship via webcam and phone somewhat draining. When you are on a computer all day sometimes you just don't want to sit in front of it in the evening too. The energizing part is being with Kelly and the good aspects of being long distance definitely outweighs the bad. But honestly, who wouldn't rather be in person talking and holding hands?

May rolled around and I was back on a plane to Canada. I could hardly wait for the bear hug I was going to get. Kelly had planned a whirlwind weekend for us including breakfast with some mutual friends of ours. I couldn't have been happier. I hadn't seen the Scanlan's in maybe 10 years.

Breakfast with the Scanlan's set the tone for an amazing day. As we said goodbye to Ron and Carol we drove off to Lake Winnipeg. We talked in the car about the things we admired about them... their sense of adventure, their love for God, that they were good parents, good friends to each other. We realized that in order to accomplish what they had they obviously had a fantastic work ethic and commitment and determination. And, we talked about wanting to model some of what we saw...

We arrived at Lake Winnipeg and Kelly was excited to show me around. He had looked for a certain road to the beach but couldn't find it then pulled over to their local watering hole. It was a place to get spring water. We got out of the car, walked around a little bit and then Kelly said he would be right back.  I watched him go back to the car and out came a birthday bag for me. We sat down on the bench overlooking the water and enjoyed the Canadian sunshine. It was a little breezy but not nearly as cold as we expected. 

Then Kelly gave me my gift bag.... he had an assortment of sweet, fun and goofy gifts. I opened them up one by one and at the bottom was a tiny blue ring box. He pulled it out, held the box and told me how much he had enjoyed getting to know me, how he looked forward to getting to know me for the rest of his life... When he asked me to marry him I just started tearing and said yes. Kelly then opened the box and told me that the ring he was giving me was his mother's. At the point, I just cried and cried and held him tight. His parents have almost been married 45 years, that certainly speaks to their sense of commitment to marriage.

So, this is the end of my love story and the beginning of a new story that I am yet to explore. I wrote this because so many people asked me how we met and what lies ahead.  Here is the sneak preview of what I know thus far:

* Kelly is about to spend 5 weeks with me this summer. We're especially excited about this because we really need a good length of time together before we tie the knot. We'll be traveling to Boston to see my family along with finishing our premarital counseling.

*Ultimately, our plan is that Kelly will move to Dallas. He's wanting to switch careers and go back to school for nursing. And, I'm really happy with the work experience I am getting too. We just feel like Dallas is a good starting place for us.  

*Wedding date? Because this is an international love affair we have all sorts of hoops to jump through before we can get married. We're filing for a fiancee visa for Kelly to move here and marry me. That means we cannot yet set a wedding date. Right now, we have a "target date" and plan to have a small private wedding in MA.

I hope you enjoyed this story...now it's time for me to see how it will continue.  Thank you God, for giving me great friends to support me during this time and to help me overcome my fears. If it hadn't been for them I probably would never be making a lifelong commitment.

I love you guys!